


Wallfacer Snowden, I am your Wallbreaker

by hybridphoenix



Series: I am your Wallbreaker [1]
Category: Real Person Fiction, 三体 - 刘慈欣 | Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy - Liu Cixin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 11:37:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9438473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hybridphoenix/pseuds/hybridphoenix





	

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [面壁人斯诺登，我是你的破壁人](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/258647) by 944828583. 



The presence of the burly stranger in the SVR-protected safe-house did not surprise Snowden. What surprised him was the difference between the erudite Wallbreaker he'd imagined-- someone like himself-- and the thug that stood before him.

"According to sophon intelligence, the Wallfacer project had begun long before the UN announced the four Wallfacers. While those four Wallfacers had a popular mandate, other Wallfacers with a less favorable public image would not be accepted. In reality, therefore, the UN designated eight Wallfacers, but only publicized the identities of four of them, leaving the rest to work in the shadows. You were one of them. 

Snowden laughed. He doubted that he would be bested by such a lowly opponent. "Go on."

"You betrayed the CIA when you exposed PRISM and its unremitting surveillance to the world. Together with Wikileaks, you revealed various secrets of your government. These acts mark you as an anarchist."

Snowden kept his expression impassive, but delight bloomed in his heart. This Wallbreaker was indeed unworthy.

"But all these were just appearances-- your real aim was the Memchip plan."

Snowden paled. He knew, from the moment Memchip was mentioned, that he'd lost, lost completely. His Wallbreaker, this "Pier Capone", watched Snowden's reaction with satisfaction, before continuing to twist the knife.

"It was clever of you to use this top-secret US defence plan that pre-dated the arrival of the sophons. The sophons knew nothing about it, and all the data related to the project had been destroyed, save for the knowledge in the minds of the high-ranking officials at Langley. Since sophons cannot read minds, this was the setup for a perfect plan.

"At the University of Maryland, you nominally worked in information security, but in reality, you were heavily involved in the memory chip project, or Memchip. It had the potential to revolutionize the way humanity dealt with thoughts and memories. The memory chip implant would serve as a brainwave transmitter, translator, and processor. 

"Like Trisolarans, humans would no longer need symbols of speech to communicate, but transmit data digitally from mind to mind. While the sophon can analyze documents, break codes, and record speech, these are all physical forms of communication. In contrast, a formless transmitter like Memchip would circumvent sophon surveillance. 

"The downside is that those implanted with Memchip would no longer be able to hide their thoughts from fellow Memchip implantees, leading to a loss of privacy. Once cyber threat analysts gain the ability to exchange thoughts and analyze them at high speed, they would be able to rapidly detect defectors in real time.

"Memchip was halted due to human rights and privacy concerns, but your betrayal would inspire the CIA to bring this project out of hibernation, given its potential to avoid future leaks. As CIA agents, they would naturally realize the advantages of Memchip in eluding sophon supervision, and so implant Memchip in the minds of the members of the PDC. Everyone would become a Wallfacer, and these Wallfacers would be able to communicate, vastly increasing the chances of success.

"I have to say that it's a stunning move. You knew that the Trisolarans can't lie, meaning that the sophon would be unable to detect lies. Those implanted with the Memchip would pretend that their thoughts weren't transparent while privately carrying out thought conversations.

"If what you said is true, so what?" Snowden asked, cheeks red with defiance.

"The Lord does not care. You believe too much in deception, but in treating deception as the solution, you've forgotten that deception is only a means to an end. Against the technology lockdown, deception would not prevent the invasion. Besides, it wouldn't be difficult to obtain a copy of Memchip. If the ETO were to get their hands on a copy, all the conspirators would revert to ordinary people without their powers of deception. Worse still, the transparency of thought between Memchip implantees would cause everyone in the project to lose their ability to deceive.

"Something else interests me, though: don't you wonder how I came to these conclusions?"

"How...you shouldn't have known about the plan," Snowden whimpered.

"It's very simple. After you defected, they held your supervisor accountable, and he lost everything. They were going to make him the scapegoat and eliminate him. In desperation, he turned to the ETO. As it turned out, those plans that you assumed would rot in the minds of those from Langley were also known to him. Without knowing that you were a Wallfacer, he presented the organization with a great gift: every activity that Wallfacer Snowden had been involved in. That was how we gained insight into your plans. After all, you were originally an ordinary person who wasn't worth sophon surveillance. So that's how we saw through your plan.

"Really, you did pretty well. You appeared as though you were against the surveillance of human thought, and your defection from the CIA further enhanced your aura of mystery. No one would have expected that these moves were in the service of a plan that would make thoughts transparent. You lasted longer than that North Korean fatso and that old man from China. We did not expect that your plan was not to save the world, but to give more people the chance to deceive the Trisolarans. You've failed, but you deserve respect, Mr Snowden.

Snowden slumped in his seat. He'd failed, this "Pier Carson" had won. Carson left the safe house without trouble, since the ETO had killed all the Russian agents guarding the house in making this meeting possible. As the ETO members left, confident in their victory, Snowden remained in the house. There was one ray of hope left, because one Wallfacer's plan had not been exposed. It was that Wallfacer who had led Snowden to his idea, the Wallfacer whose theories had laid the theoretical foundation for Memchip. As long as that Wallfacer remained, there was still hope!

*

In far-away Oslo, a debonair Englishman sneezed. His wife, Keiko Yamasuki, looked at him with concern.

"You're wearing yourself out, Bill." She covered him with a blanket. 

"I have an idea, Keiko, this may save humanity!" Bill Hines' eyes blazed with energy as he began work in earnest. He'd long forgotten about the Snowden lad in his research group in the University of Maryland, and never realized the influence his research had had on Snowden's life.


End file.
